Secondary Traumatic Stress: Risk Factors, Consequences, and Coping Strategies

Editorial

28 February 2023

Editorial: Secondary traumatic stress: Risk factors, consequences, and coping strategies

Daniela Acquadro Maran

Valentina Dolce

and

Lara Colombo

7,533 views

6 citations

Editors

Daniela Acquadro Maran

University of Turin

Valentina Dolce

Lumière University Lyon 2

Lara Colombo

University of Turin

Impact

Original Research

22 December 2022

Randomized controlled trial of emotion-focused training for helping professionals

Júlia Halamová

, 1 more and

Karol Kováč

Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine the short- and long-term effectiveness of the novel Emotion-focused Training for Helping Professions on levels of compassion fatigue (secondary traumatic stress & burnout), self-criticism, self-compassion, and compassion for others.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial study was conducted. A total of 253 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group attended a 14-day online training. The control group did not perform any tasks.

Results: Results showed that after completing the intervention the experimental group participants reported significantly lower scores for secondary traumatic stress, burnout and self-criticism, and higher scores for self-compassion and that these lasted for two months after completion. Compared to the control group, the experimental group participants had significantly lower scores of secondary traumatic stress, burnout, self-criticism, and higher scores of self-compassion after the intervention. No significant changes were found for the control group, except a significant increase in time in the reported score for one dimension of burnout – exhaustion.

Discussion: The novel EFT-HP training was shown to be effective in reducing levels of compassion fatigue (secondary traumatic stress and burnout) and self-criticism and increasing self-compassion.

4,860 views

8 citations

Original Research

17 November 2022

Relationship between psychological capital and depression in Chinese physicians: The mediating role of organizational commitment and coping style

Li Sun

, 13 more and

Yanjie Yang

Background: It is well known that the medical profession is a high-risk practice, with intense work and complex situations. The physicians are prone to suffer from depression due to occupational stress under high workloads for long periods of time. Depression not only impairs physicians’ mental health, but also affects the quality of health services, so it is important to explore the factors and mechanisms affecting depression among physicians.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1,139 physicians from Heilongjiang Province were surveyed by cluster sampling procedures. The questionnaires included Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Chinese Employee Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Trait Coping Style Questionnaire and Self-rating Depression Scale. Pearson correlation analysis and Bootstrap were used for statistical analysis.

Results: This study found that 41.6% of physicians suffering from depression. Among them, 17.0% of physicians showed moderate depression, and 2.6% of physicians exhibited severe depression. The serial-multiple mediation of organizational commitment and positive coping styles in the relationship between psychological capital and depression was significant.

Conclusion: The results showed that the psychological capital was sequentially associated with increased organizational commitment, and then increased positive coping styles, which resulted in reduced depression among physicians.

2,129 views

8 citations

Original Research

03 November 2022

Exploring links between Chinese military recruits' psychological stress and coping style from the person-environment fit perspective: The chain mediating effect of self-efficacy and social support

Chao Wu

, 8 more and

Hongjuan Lang

3,295 views

2 citations

Original Research

15 May 2020

Psychometric Properties of a Simplified Chinese Version of the Secondary Trauma Questionnaire in a Potentially Traumatized Study Sample

Ya-jun Yan

, 11 more and

Tao Xiao

Background: Screening for secondary traumatic stress (STS) is lacking in China. It is unclear whether Western models of STS can be adapted satisfactorily for use in non-Western regions. The 20-item Secondary Trauma Questionnaire (STQ) is a self-report measure of traumatic stress symptoms in individuals who have been influenced indirectly by suicide or violent injury of people important to the respondents.

Methods: Here, we assessed the psychometric properties of a newly developed Chinese version of the STQ in a potentially traumatized sample (N = 875) composed of doctors, nurses, teachers, civic administration staff, and social workers in China. We performed reliability and validity analyses. Subsequently, we split the total sample into two subsamples for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for measurement invariance analyses.

Results: The full scale demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.95–0.97), convergent validity, discriminant validity, and factorial validity. CFA affirmed a one-factor structure; the configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariances of the STQ were acceptable across genders.

Conclusion: The present results indicate that the STQ is a reliable and valid self-report assessment for use with potentially traumatized people in China, and further supports the notion that the STQ is amenable to additional future cross-cultural adaptation.

4,059 views

4 citations

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